Tag: working

A friend of ours dropped in a ‘dead lamp’ to the workshop with a message: “Matt, can you mend it”? I then sort of forgot about it for er, nine months. Whoops. I need to focus on the workshop more.

The lamp was much loved by its owner and its current lack of light was leaving her in the dark.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, May’20, Endon Touch Control Dimmable Lamp.

Make and model: Endon Touch Control Dimmable Lamp

Fault reported: Not working

Cost of replacement: £30ish

Manufacturer support: 0/10

Cost of parts: £3 approx.

Hours spent on repair: 30 minutes

Tools needed: Screwdrivers, test meter etc

Sundry items: None

Repair difficulty: 2/10

Cups of tea: 1

Biscuits: Wagon Wheel (Jammie)

These touch lamps were a bit of a novelty back in the day and seem to have fallen out of favour in recent times. However, the owner of this one was a bit upset when suddenly one day, it wouldn’t work.

When working on anything mains operated, I always start with the basics:

Is the bulb working? Yes.

Is the mains flex OK? Again, yes

Is the fuse (UK) intact? All OK

Lamps like this are pretty simple; there’s a mains wire, there’s a bulb and holder, a switch and the main lamp unit itself. Some dimmable lamps, like this one, feature an electronic dimming module, which in this case was built into the base of the unit.

First step: Remove the base cover

Removing the cover was fairly straightforward and only involved a few self-tapping screws, under the felt pad base. This exposed the dimmer module, which when tested with the meter, was not outputting any current to the lamp circuit.

Second step: Dismantle the dimmer

Dimmer modules like this are not designed to be repaired and contain no user-serviceable parts (don’t get me started on that!). But in the past, I’ve had some luck cleaning components and re-heating the odd dry joint with a soldering iron. In this case, it was no joy. A replacement module was needed.

Third step: Find a new dimmer!

I can’t remember what I used to do before finding specialist electronic suppliers on eBay and alike. Oh yes, I just remembered: I struggled!

It didn’t take long to find a new (almost identical) dimmer module on eBay for about £3, delivered. How do they do it for the money?

After 2 weeks of waiting, the new module arrived in the post, hand delivered by our usual friendly posty, Keith.

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Forth step: Fitting the new module and test

Comparing the dimmers side-by-side revealed that they were more or less the same, using the same wire colours…but in a different combination. This meant that it wasn’t a simple ‘cut and re-join’ the new dimmer to the existing wiring. Oh no, it meant cutting everything out and starting again. Still, with only four wires, it didn’t take long. With a little soldering and heat shrink, one would never know I had been tinkering.

A good job, jobbed, even if it did take me months to get ‘aroundtuit’.

I’m not a fan of batteries. They run out and always when you least expect it.

You know that anything with a battery, will need attention at some point.

Batteries either need to be replaced or better, recharged.

But often, replacement batteries are the only option for toys, which can mean high running costs. Especially when the toy is played with continually by an enthusiastic child owner!

Trouble is, a mixture of built-in obsolescence and poor design means that it’s just not obvious how one replaces duff batteries meaning that, I suspect, lots of toys get thrown away needlessly, but it’s not the owners fault necessarily.

Sadly, some replacement batteries cost more than the toy itself, which is just mad.

Make and model: toy radio control car (no brand or model)

Fault reported: Not working

Cost of replacement: £10ish

Manufacturer support: 0/10

Cost of parts: £5 (batteries)

Hours spent on repair: 30 minutes

Tools needed: Screwdrivers, test meter etc

Sundry items: None

Repair difficulty: 0/10

Cups of tea: 1/2 cup

Biscuits: None

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The owner of this toy had played with it non-stop wearing the batteries out. Mum and dad had replaced some of the batteries in the car part of this toy, but still the toy didn’t work. It wasn’t clear to the parents, which batteries in what part of the toy needed to be replaced, which meant that an email asking for help, popped in to my inbox.

At first glance, the car part of the toy had no battery cover or compartment, but on closer inspection, the car separated in to two halves, allowing access to the 4 X AA (1.5V) batteries. Not a straightforward task for everyone. Testing each battery revealed that they were all worn with an average of 1.3 volts (much lower under load) each. I replaced these with fresh ones and put the car back together. The car’s casing was simply held together with a clip and a couple of small screws.

However, the toy still wasn’t working, time to test the radio controller. Again, a screwdriver was needed to open the battery compartment to access the battery. Not all households have screwdrivers (even though I believe they should!).

Testing the 9V PP3/ 6LR61 battery revealed around 3 volts, 6 volts too low. Again, a new battery got the radio controller working once more.

Doing this ‘repair’ got me thinking. Batteries can be tricky things to manage. New ones can go flat when not in use and old ones that have been kicking around in a drawer for a while can be fine to use. One can replace batteries with ‘new’ ones which are no better than the ones fitted, leading a user to believe that the ‘thing’ must be faulty. A false positive.

With a little basic training on multimeter use, hours and cash can be saved by testing pesky batteries. At under £5 for a basic multimeter, it could be money well saved for any household. Just a thought.

With both car and radio controller switched on, the toy sprung to life. Of course, I had to test the car thoroughly before handing it back(!).

I’d say that 8 out of 10 repairs commissioned by folk who get in touch are for sentimental reasons. Take this unusual lamp. It’s not worth a great deal of cash, it doesn’t use the latest luminescence technology and it doesn’t even have a makers’ mark (we think it came from Aldi or Lidl).

Yet, it had been a family favourite for years and the owners were keen to see it light their world, once more.

Make and model: Dimmable ‘projector ball’ lamp

Fault reported: Not working

Cost of replacement: £30ish

Manufacturer support: 0/10

Cost of parts: £15.30 plus £3.25 for bulb

Hours spent on repair: 1 hour

Tools needed: Spanner, screwdrivers, test meter etc

Sundry items: None

Repair difficulty: 2/10

Cups of tea: 2

Biscuits: 1 Gold Bar

Firstly, we all make mistakes and here’s one of mine!

It’s easy to fall into traps or ‘snap diagnosis’ when doing a repair and I want to share a ‘little accident’ that I had with this one. Even an experienced repair bloke can make mistakes.

Here goes.

After checking the mains plug (all fine) and cable to the lamp for continuity and potential shorts to earth, I was convinced that the supply lead was fine. All good so far.

Next, I checked continuity from the dimmer module to the lamp socket. Ah ha, that’s the problem, that link in the circuit is dead. A quick repair job, on to the next? Not quite.

As a temporary test, I decided to by-pass the dimmer and rig a temporary wire to the lamp, to prove the wiring was OK and that the dimmer was the fault. Upon plugging the mains plug in, the bulb nearly exploded. Bang! My safety circuit breakers then stopped the power to the whole workshop. I was now in darkness, but luckily, my heart was still ticking.

I had failed to realise that the dimmer on this light was actually doing two jobs; dimming the lamp as well as stepping down from the (UK) mains 240VAC supply to a safer 12VAC operating power. I had connected 240 Volts to a 12 Volt bulb! What a simple mistake to make. If I had simply inspected the dimmer more closely, I would have realised this. The original sticker and badges on this lamp had long disappeared. An important lesson, relearned. Time for a cup of tea and a biscuit.

The repair.

With the power back on, it was time to see what the original dimmer was doing. Not much as it turned out and due to the tininess of the dimmer’s components and build type, I was unable to say why it had failed. I suspect that one of the power sink control components (maybe a Zenner diode) had failed, causing an overload to the onboard one-time blow fuse. However, that’s just an unproven theory. The fact was that I now needed a replacement dimmer with step-down 240/12VAC capability.

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It turns out that only a couple of manufacturers make such a dimmer module and I chose one made by Relco as it seemed to match the original specification quite well. It would have been tempting to convert the lamp to mains power and just fit a simple on/off switch, but I’m not keen on this as technically, the lamp would need to be re-subjected to British/ EN Standards, not something I was prepared to do. Unless impossible otherwise, all kit leaving the workshop must be original specification or better.

With a new (correct) dimmer wired-in and replacement MR11 bulb fitted, the lamp came to life once more. I’d also fitted a proper mains on/off switch, since the replacement dimmer did not have one. The new switch would isolate the flow of power to the whole thing when not in use, hopefully prolonging the life of the dimmer module.

The owners of this lamp were very pleased to have it back as they had missed the lovely light patterns it projected on to their ceiling.

There are times when only no-nonsense suck will do. Other vacuum cleaners offer the moon on a stick, but rarely live up to the repeated abuse of everyday life. Henry on the other hand is tough, no-nonsense and above all, reliable.

I have friends in trades who will only buy and use Henry ‘hoovers’ as they last, always work and are easy to use. And above all, who doesn’t like an appliance with a smiley face?

The example in the picture above had been used by a local Worthing taxi driver everyday for the last 15 years without any problems and was in pretty good nick. The filter was clean and apart from some wear and tear scratches, still looked like the current model.

One day, Henry failed to switch on and after the owner had checked the fuse in the plug, he decided to get in touch with the workshop.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, March’20, Henry’s on switch.

The HVA200a has two speed settings, one at 600 Watts power and one at 1200 Watts power, selectable by a red switch and indicated in a red tell-tail lamp. When plugged in, nothing was happening.

Time to perform surgery.

Opening up Henry’s casing was straightforward and top marks to the designers for creating sensible parts that fit together logically. Henry is designed to last and be repaired. All very pleasing.

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With the lid removed, all electrical checks were made from the plug to the end of the flex, down to the motor. The flex was in good condition with no snags, shorts or earth faults. The cable winder on this model is a simple handle operating spindle and was a bit sticky. The contacts inside the gubbins were also tarnished, so while it was all in pieces, I decided to clean all of the electrical contacts with cleaner and make sure all the sliding parts of the cable winder were clean and had a small dab of silicone spray for smoothness.

Testing for current around the circuit revealed that the speed control board was where things stopped. The speed control board was dead and required replacing.

To prove this fact, I was able to temporarily by-pass the controller and connect the mains switch to the motor, which revealed that the motor was strong.

A quick bit of shopping with my favourite parts suppliers yielded a replacement (updated) speed control PCB for under £20, which seemed like good value to me. After making a note of the wiring (see slideshow), the new PCB was connected up, the casing back together and Henry was ready to run, once more.

I meet some really interesting people with this hobby of mine with some quirky things to fix, often with personal and meaningful backstories. This repair is one such item.

Make and model: Jonathan Deer III rubber deer thingy

Fault reported: Not running

Cost of replacement: About £0

Cost of parts: £0.00

Hours spent on repair: 2

Tools needed: Cutters, screwdriver and soldering iron

Sundry items: Contact cleaner

Repair difficulty: 2/10

Cups of tea: 2

Biscuits: 0

Someone got in touch to see if I could repair a festive family favourite Christmas novelty, which was a big hit with the children, back in the day. Jonathan Deer III has become a family legend and Christmas simply wouldn’t be complete without him. Intrigued, I agreed to see the injured deer.

A few days later, a parcel arrived and upon opening, I was greeted with a deer’s head made of rubber. Not one’s average delivery.

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‘Jonathan Deer’ was available about 20 years ago in the UK and I suspect the US as a novelty singing Christmas toy, designed to hang on the wall, to bring festive joy when anyone walks past the deer’s motion sensor.

Sadly, or maybe fortuitously, depending on your perspective, Jonathan was now silent and despite new batteries, it was dead.

The thing about Christmas decorations is that they get used for about 4 weeks a year and then packed away, usually in a loft or alike where it’s not necessarily that warm or dry for the remaining 48 weeks. Cold, damp and draughty conditions are not good for small electrical items. Batteries left leak and metallic contacts corrode and these ailments had affected poor old Jonathan.

Repairs completed:

Battery terminals were corroded from battery leakage and therefore cleaned with a small toothbrush and protected with contact cleaner

Opening up the casing (several small screws) revealed a broken negative lead. A Small re-soldering job fixed that

Still no action.

Lastly, the on/off switch didn’t seem to be working. I was able to separate the small tangs holding the switch together and gently clean the switch wiper/ contacts with cleaning agent. I didn’t replace the switch as it’s a bespoke item and getting a replacement would be difficult. The repair I made seemed to work OK.

Once the switch was cleaned, Jonathan burst into life. Upon switching him on in demo mode, he woke up by blaring out James Brown – I Feel Good. Moving the switch to on mode, he worked as he should via the motion sensor. Wonderful.

I was then able to return the deer to its owner to enjoy over the festive season. Result.

I was asked to repair a personal massage belt recently, which had developed an annoying habit of cutting out, mid-treatment. Over email, I confessed that I did not know what a massage belt was, but was reassured that is was used to treat lower back ailments and nothing more personal. Phew.

These devices are sold on Amazon and are usually available at events, such as the Ideal Home Exhibition and alike. This belt offers the wearer a lower back massage by means of two rotating arms with smooth spheres, hidden behind a soft pad. The spheres also emit infra-red, if required.

I don’t know much about this kind of thing, but I had noticed that the power cable for the belt was a standard female 12VDC connector, used on many types of domestic equipment.

With the power applied and with some wiggling, the belt would occasionally come on and then fail, indicating a loose connection. The trick here was to find out where.

The belt is zipped together and access to the wiring was easy. The belt’s power connector ran to a switch/mode box and then on to the motors and other gizmos within (see photos in slideshow).

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After cutting into the cable, testing continuity, I found two problems; A break within one of the cable cores and a faulty female power connector. Luckily, connectors like this are abundant and a quick look on eBay revealed lots for under £2, delivered. As it happens, I bought a high-quality connector and flying lead, intended for a CCTV camera, to fit the belt.

The last step was to reconnect some good cable, reconnect the new connector and make good with soldered joints and heat shrink, to keep everything nice and tidy. Before I solder things, I always make sure I’ve not cross-wired anything, by proving continuity with a multimeter. In the past, one has been known to blow things up by not taking this sensible approach!

After reassembly, it was just a case of powering up and switching on. Gladly, I hadn’t crossed any cables and it now worked again, happily ever after.

I have a real soft spot for novelty toy robots that actually do something. I think I’ll make a point of collecting more.

FixItWorkshop, Worthing, August’19, Tomy/ Robie Mr. Money.

Make and model: Tomy (Robie in U.S.) Mr. Money children’s money box

Fault reported: Not eating money

Cost of replacement: N/A

Cost of parts: £0.00

Hours spent on repair: About an hour

Tools needed: Cleaning cloths

Sundry items: Contact cleaner

Repair difficulty: 3/10

A lady got in touch with me on the back of an article I wrote a while ago about a faulty Mr. Money toy robot money box. My Mr. Money had gone wrong as I’d left an old battery inside which had then leaked. A major clean-up and tinker was then required to get it working again.

This particular Mr Money belonged to the lady’s husband and was to be ‘given to him again’ as a 40th birthday present. What a nice thought. The only problem was that Mr. Money had stopped working long ago; put away and forgotten about. He needed bringing back to life. Perhaps there was a hidden message to the husband to save for something? Who knows.

Mr. Money arrived well packed at the workshop and I wasted no time in taking him apart. There was no evidence of battery leakage or accidental Cadbury Button ingestion and he was generally in good condition with no bits broken off. A good start.

Mr. Money is getting on a bit and when taking apart any toy, let alone one that’s over 30 years old, one must be careful not to accidently snap-off any lugs or tangs that hold things like casing and levers together. Very tricky. It’s not something I usually attempt after a day at work, when I’m shattered.

After some rooting around in the depths of the mechanism, I noticed that the ‘limit switch’ was a little dirty and that some of the contacts needed a little clean. Using some fine cloth and switch cleaner, all metallic switch surfaces and battery connections were cleaned up and with a new AA battery installed, Mr. Money worked again.

Being 30 years old, there’s no silly use of electronics or other USB excesses which are, I think, ‘over used’ on modern toys. It all adds up to something which can be repaired with basic tools and parts.